Picking-machine.



No. 644,659. Patented Mar. 6, I900.

. E. H. BLOSSOM.

PICKING MACHINE.

(Application filed Jan. 12, 1899.

2 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

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I INVENTOR BY W A TTORNE r.

No. 644,659. Patented Mar. 6, I900. E. H. BLOSSOM.

Plenum; momma.

(Application file'd Jan. 12, 1899.1

2 Sheets-$heat 2.

(No Model.)

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INVENTO/Y ATTORNEY.

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EDWARD n. BLOSSOM, or sr. JOHNS-BURY, VERMONT.

PICKING-MACHIANZE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent .No. 644,659, dated March 6, 1900 Application filed January 12,1899. Serial N6; 702,006. (No model.)

State of Vermont, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Picking-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in picker-machines in which the picker-cylinder is provided with feeding-in rolls and a suction-cylinder for extracting dust and dirt from the product.

The said invention consists chiefly in the combination, with the foregoing devices, of means for dislodging impurities from the surface of the said suction-cylinder, and especially in means for dividing the interior of the said cylinder into two chambers, oneof which is connected with an exhaust-fan and the other with a blastfan, each part of the revolving cylinder becoming alternately a part of the one chamber and of the other, substantially as hereinafter set forth and claimed.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine. Fig. 2 is a plan; Fig. 3, a section on line A B of plan; Fig. 4, details of fan, 85c. Fig. 5, details of picker.

Similar figures referto similar parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings, 1, Fig. l, is the frame of the machine, on which all the working parts are mounted. The cylinder 4 is mounted in journal-boxes at each end, the journals extending through the bearings sufficiently to allow a driving-pulley on one end and a pulley to run the feed-rolls at the other. This cylinder is provided on its periphery with teeth or pins 19, which project some distance from the cylinders outer surface to engage the material to be operated on. These pins or teeth are turned on their outer ends, so as to make them run very close to the feeding-in rolls. Cylinder 4 receives its rotatory motion by pulley 5 at its end, to which a belt comes from any suitable counter-shaft or source of power. At the opposite end of cylinder 4 and on the same shaft is pulley 7, which drives, by means of a belt, pulley 8, keyed onto a shaft extending across the frame, on which is also keyed a pinion driving the train of gears 10, the last one of the train of gears 10 being keyed to feeding-in roll 6. Be tween the pinion 10 and feeding-in roll 6 are reducing-gears mounted on studs. Feedinginrolls 6 and 6 are preferably fluted or corrugated, but may be smooth, and roll 6 is made to run as close to the ends of the teeth in cylinder 4 as it can and not touch. 6 is journaled in fixed bearings, while roll 6 is mounted in spring-actuated adjustable bearings 17. Roll 6 is held down by the springs 16 with sufficient force to hold the material being operated on firmly enough so it will be thoroughly disintegrated.

Underneath the cylinder 4 is placed a revolving drum 3, made of perforated sheet metal, having a solid head in one end,to which is fastened a journal projecting sufficiently to go through a bearing on the frame of the machine and into a driving-pulley 14, Fig. 2, driven by a belt from pulley 9. The other end of drum 3 is open and is supported circumferentially. A head fastened to the frame of the machine closes the open end of drum 3, through which are holes to receive the ends of pipes 21 and 22. This head has attached to its inner side a vane or partition 20, that divides the interior of drum 3 perpendicularly into two parts. This partition 20 is rigidly fixed to the frame of the machine and fits the interior of drum 3 nearly air tight, and around it drum 3 revolves, being divided by partition 20 into two chambers. An exhaust-fan 11 is connected to the front chamber in drum 3 by pipe 22, from which the air is drawn to take the dust, lint, and grit from the product of the picker-cylinder. This dust, &c., is taken out through pipe 22, fan 11, and discharged from pipe 13. To prevent lint and waste from adhering to the perforations in drum 3, a branch pipe 21 is taken from discharge-pipe 13 and carried into the near chamber of drum 3, creating a slight air-pressure, which, passing outwardly through perforations in drum 3, causes all adhering matter to be thrown off. Fan 11 is of the common type of exhaust-fans. The arrows in Fig. 5 show the direction of the air-currents.

A piece of textile fabric 18 is shown in Fig. 5, being fed into the machine by rolls 6 and 6, and the product passing around perforated drum 3 onto the conveyer 2. This conveyer is of the endless-chain type and is driven from the machine itself or may be driven independently.

The operation of the machine is obvious. The inaterialas, for instance, textile fabricis carried forward by rolls 6 and 6 till it is caught by the teeth on cylinder 4 and torn or disintegrated thread by thread as the pressure on roll 6 by spring 16 prevents the teeth from drawing the fabric through only as it is fed in by the rolls. The disintegrated product is thrown from the teeth of drum 3 against the perforated drum 3, when all the dust and lint are drawn through the perforation into the front chamber of drum 3, out through pipe 22 and fan 11, and discharged from pipe 13.

It is plainly seen that the toothed cylinder 4 is made to revolve rapidly, while feeding-in rolls (3 and 6, together with the perforated drum, revolve slowly.

The work for which this machine is designed is principally the conversion of wornout textile fabrics into commercial waste; but it will be observed that it may be useful for the disintegration of any fibrous material.

Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a picking-machine, a revolving, perforated, suction-drum in combination with means for withdrawing air from the interior of said drum and independent means for applying a blast of air to the inner face of the wall of the said drum in order to dislodge impurities and open the perforations, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination in a picking-machine of a revolving picker-cylinder with projecting teeth, spring-actuated adjustable feeding-in rolls, a perforated revolving suction-drum provided with a stationary partition, dividing the drum into two chambers, an exhausting device connected with one of the said chambers and means for creating a draft connected with the other chamber, as set forth and for the purpose described.

3. The combination in a picking-machine of the toothed picker-cylinder, spring-actuated adjustable feeding-in rolls, a subdivided perforated suction-drum, an exhaust-fan attached to one subdivision of said drum, means for applying a positive blast to the other subdivision, and an endless carrier to convey away the product, all being mounted on suitable framework, for the purpose set forth and as described.

EDWARD II. BLOSSOM.

\Vitnesses:

F. O. MAYO, A. L. NASH. 

